One of the most important space events in recent months will take place on March 14. SpaceX will carry out the third orbital test of the superheavy Starship system.
What is Starship?
Starship is the name of a fully reusable transportation system created by SpaceX. It consists of a spacecraft of the same name and a booster (first stage) called Super Heavy. Both components are reusable. The mass of the bundle of Starship and Super Heavy in the refueled state is about 5,000 tons, height — 121 m. This makes them the largest launch vehicle in history.
The Super Heavy stage (its length is 71 m) is equipped with 33 Raptor engines using methane as propellant and liquid oxygen as an oxidizer. The Starship spacecraft (its length is 50 m) is equipped with six Raptor engines. In the reusable version, it will be able to deliver 100-150 tons of cargo to low Earth orbit.
Live broadcast of the Starship launch
The launch of Starship is scheduled for March 14. The window for the flight of the spacecraft will open at 8 a.m. EDT. The live broadcast of the event will be conducted by the company on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Watch Starship's third flight test https://t.co/1u46r769Vp
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 5, 2024
Alternative broadcasts of the launch will also be available on Youtube.
The third flight of Starship will take place according to a new scheme. The plan is as follows. A bundle of Super Heavy and a Starship prototype will be launched from the SpaceX test site near the Texas village of Boca Chica. After separation, the booster will perform a partial return maneuver and land in the Gulf of Mexico.
As for the prototype Starship, it will make a partial orbit around the Earth. 65 minutes after takeoff, the spacecraft will enter the Earth’s atmosphere, after which it will land in the Indian Ocean. Its rescue is not provided for.
During the time the spacecraft will be in space, engineers hope to conduct a series of tests of equipment and technologies that are critical for the future of the spacecraft. One of them is the launch of Raptor engines in a vacuum. Another important test will be the opening and closing of the door of the payload bay, which in the future will be used to launch Starlink satellites. And finally, during the flight, a fuel transfer test will be conducted between the Starship tanks.
This is a much more ambitious test program than during previous Starship flights. At the same time, SpaceX was already very close to reaching orbit last time. So the company’s engineers have every reason to believe that the third flight of Starship will bring them good luck.
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